Smug Snake/Film: Difference between revisions
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* Eve Harrington from ''[[All About Eve]]'' is a prime example of the Smug Snake. A [[Manipulative Bitch|master manipulator]] who fancies herself a [[Magnificent Bitch]], she [[Villainous Breakdown|crumbles]] when faced with a real [[Magnificent Bastard]] in the form of Addison DeWitt. "[[Badass Boast|Take a good look at me Eve, it's about time you did. I am Addison DeWitt and I am nobody's fool, least of all yours]]."
* The criminal Waingro in ''[[Heat]]'' displays a smug expression whenever committing an low act like killing a guard during a heist for staring at him and enjoying a pie afterwards, murdering a underage prostitute or betraying his former colleagues to a common enemy.
* The arms smuggler
*
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' features Lord Cutler Beckett, a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] played deliberately and with slimy relish. Who'd have thought that a series whose villains thus far were [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|cursed, immortal undead pirates]] would have a stereotypical [[Aristocrats Are Evil|evil English aristocrat]] as its [[Big Bad]]? He's so repulsive that he made many viewers ''[[Draco in Leather Pants|sympathise with Davy Jones]]'' when the latter was forced into [[The Dragon|servitude]]. Evidently the writers felt the same, as {{spoiler|Jones' death is an anticlimactic drop-off-the-deck while Beckett gets a huge, epic slow motion [[Strolling Through the Chaos|walk through his exploding ship]] complete with [[Ominous Latin Chanting]].}}
* ''[[The Proposition]]'' has [[Meaningful Name|Eden]] Fletcher, played by David Wenham speaking through his nose, and very intentionally meant to inspire the audience's hate. If Darth Sidious from ''[[Star Wars]]'' and Dolores Umbridge from ''[[Harry Potter]]'' got married and had a baby, and the baby grew up and took lessons at Eton in Being a Hateful Snob, it would still fall far short of Eden Fletcher. Even more infuriating than his cold-blooded perception of justice (100 lashes for a retarded 14-year old? Why not?) is his status as [[Karma Houdini]].
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'''Maroni''': [[The Joker|Two-bit whackjob, wears a cheap purple suit and makeup.]] [[Tempting Fate|He's not the problem, he's a nobody.]] }}
* Doctor Emma Temple of ''[[The Ring]] Two'', a smirking, utterly insensitive psychiatrist. {{spoiler|Samara uses a [[Jedi Mind Trick]] on Dr. Temple [[Asshole Victim|to make her commit suicide]], which on the one hand is the least gory death in the series, but may be the most humiliating as it implies Temple is so [[Weak-Willed]] Samara can dominate her with a thought.}}
* Colonel Zaysen from ''[[Rambo III]]''. The Agony Booth [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312153326/http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/Rambo_III.aspx?Page=2 recap] gives an absolutely perfect distillation of this trope:
{{quote|Zaysen will not go down in history as one of cinema's greatest villains, sad to say. He has all the tools: A decent sneer, a nasty sadistic streak, and a taste for chess to give him a cultured [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] villain aura. But he never really becomes a character. Instead, the script has him simply go through the motions and expects that to be good enough.}}
* The [[Large Ham|aptly-named]] Justin Hammer from ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man 2]]''. While he is a massively rich military industrialist, and not above the odd bit of sceming, he comes off as an ''unbeliveable'' douche and a vaguely pathetic shadow of Tony Stark: his Hammer Tech weapons {{spoiler|[[Epic Fail|fail utterly]]}}, he can't cobble together an Iron Man suit knockoff to save his life, and it's pretty obvious that he's being played like a fiddle by {{spoiler|[[Magnificent Bastard|Ivan Vanko]]}}. Even his ''trophy girfriend'' is one of Tony's cast-offs.
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* Tommy O'Shea, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Death Wish V the Face of Death]]''. A slimy, Irish mobster, he always manges to escape prosecution {{spoiler|because he has a [[The Mole|mole]] in the D.A's office}} but once Kersey gets his sights on him, he acts like its' a minor annoyance. Even when his [[The Dragon|dragon]] Chicki warns him not to underestimate Kersey, O'Shea is far too confident in his plans. Sadly, his overconfidence proved to be his undoing, as he wasn't savvy enough to realize he was a villain in a ''Death Wish'' movie and therefore, doomed.
* Grima Wormtongue as portrayed by Brad Dourif in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]''. He's slimy to the core, talks to everyone with an annoying sneer in his voice, and didn't prepare even nearly large enough a guard to ward off a small band of heroes who happen to be good fighters, and apparently not remembering to tell his guards ''why'' they needed to take Gandalf's staff. (The book, in contrast, makes clear that the doorwarden doesn't trust Grima further than he could throw him -- he lets Gandalf get away with bringing his staff because he believes that Gandalf means well for the Rohirrim, but that Grima does not.)
* Gaff in ''[[Blade Runner]]''. Everything he says is some kind of sarcastic remark, and it's clear that he knows much more about Deckard's situation than he's letting on. Unusual in that he's technically on the side of the 'good' guys, though in a film that deals mostly in [[Gray and Gray Morality]] it's often hard to tell.
* The appropriately named [[Dirty Coward|Lord Coward]] in ''[[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', who seems to spend most of the movie standing around looking rather smug with little reason to be. He does notably attempt to [[No-Nonsense Nemesis|shoot Holmes]] when he gets the chance, but still fails miserably.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Grand Moff Tarkin in [[A New Hope|the original movie]]. He becomes this trope more and more as the movie goes on, with his smug overconfidence on full display at the finale.
** Jabba the Hutt in Episode VI: [[Return of the Jedi]]. Han offered money instead of his captivity and Jabba wouldn't listen; when Leia and Luke warned Jabba they could defeat him, Jabba and his minions didn't take them seriously at all. Even when being led to the Sarlacc Pit Luke said "this is your last chance; free us, or die." Jabba and his minions STILL didn't take them seriously. Jabba had so many warnings, and so many chances for alternatives, that for him to still keep ignoring them made his [[Karmic Death]] all the more satisfying. In his defense (and who ever thought they'd hear ''that'') he'd heard it ''all'' before. He'd had dozens, maybe hundreds of others in exactly the same place that the heroes were in, and clearly he had come off the better of it each time. In various EU works, he actually is more of a [[Magnificent Bastard]] than Smug Snake. But as far as the movies themselves go, no context is given for this dismissive approach. Also, "free us, or die" comes AFTER Luke manages to defeat the Rancor; this should give Jabba some indication that Luke could be a potential threat. Even if he was a [[Magnificent Bastard]] before this, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he has turned into a Smug Snake since. (Even Palpatine, who was clearly a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in the prequel trilogy, showed signs of turning into a Smug Snake in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.)
** [[Card-Carrying Villain|General Grievous]]. In the Interquel mini-series, Grievous was a bonafide badass, slaughtering several Jedi at once and almost taking several prominent masters' heads for himself, including Ki-Adi-Mundi. The guy even fought MACE WINDU to a standstill. Cue [[Revenge of the Sith]] and a helping of [[Badass Decay]] courtesy of [[George Lucas]], and we get a Smug Snake whom "is actually doing the doing the [[Buffy-Speak|twirly-finger thing]]", to quote Rifftrax, and is handed his ass after a brief saber fight by Obi-Wan later...
** [[A New Hope|Admiral Motti]]'s ''"this station is now the ultimate power in the universe"'' remark comes across as fairly arrogant in any context, {{spoiler|but especially in light of what happened near the end of the movie}}.
* Chad in ''[[In the Loop]]'' likes to think he's negotiating his way up the career ladder in the U.S State Department and effortlessly out-manoevreing those opposed to in. In reality, he a [[Professional Butt-Kisser|toadying little worm]] who is completely ignored by Linton Barwick, who's ass he tries desperately to kiss (Linton doesn't even remember his name), and is regarded by everyone else as a slimy little creep.
* ''[[Inglorious Basterds]]'' has Major Hellstrom and, more unconventially, a rare 'good guy' example in Bridget Von Hammersmark who is utterly disdainful of her allies but doesn't seem much (if at all) smarter.
* Eli Sunday from ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'' is a charismatic religious fanatic who presides over a cult in the small American town where he resides. While his ambition is to be commended, he is nevertheless a hyptocritical bully whose faith in God crumbles when faced with adversity. When confronted with a bigger bully than himself in the form of [[The Sociopath|raging Daniel Plainview]], he is reduced to crying and screaming while begging for his life.
* ''[[Shattered Glass]]'' presents Stephen Glass as one of these; he initially comes off as a humble, self-effacing and charming guy, but the longer he keeps it up and the longer we watch him we realize it's all just an act he uses to manipulate people, and the more we realize he's actually just a slimy, weaselly creep.
* The douche-tacular Captain Styles of the USS ''Excelsior'' in ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]''. He exists for Kirk to tap-dance rings around.
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